Last year, Alchemical Records reported how Bonsai would revolutionize the music industry through authentic relationships. Having a proven track record of connecting industry professionals with artists in the past, the New York based company has fully committed to another model that has been evolving since the company’s inception; with Co-Founder and COO Jake Rosenfeld noting, “Since launch, artists including Cobra Starship’s Gabe Saporta, Def Jam’s Amir Obè, Australian-bred The Faim, former Now United member Diara Sylla, Fly By Midnight, and The Holdup have been leveraging Bonsai to build their most precious fan relationships.”
Bonsai provides a platform for fans to submit questions to artists who respond in an audio recording which becomes a collectible piece of responsive digital art. The artists sets their own fees which fans pay only if the artist answers their question.
Billboard reported in April 2023 that digital music distribution company Symphonic had partnered with Bonsai and, most recently the company announced a partnership with the leading independent CD & DVD manufacturer in the U.S., Disc Makers. Partnerships with these kinds of organizations position Bonsai directly in front of independent artists who are actively releasing music, music videos, and other content while looking to create new experiences for fans and alternative monetization opportunities for the band.
“Music monetization in the streaming era is a massive challenge for emerging artists,” said Tony van Veen, CEO of Disc Makers. “I’m excited about the opportunity presented by Bonsai audiograms, which are super simple for artists to create and generate income from. I love that artists can set their own price for an audiogram, so that as the artist becomes more popular, the revenue opportunity from Bonsai audiograms scales up right along with the artist’s popularity.”
Fans are encouraged to ask questions such as, “What inspired you to write this verse?”, or, “How is your upcoming album going to be different from prior projects?”
Rosenfeld describes, “Once the artist records an audio response (which can be easily done directly from a phone or laptop), the fan receives it via text or email and the audiogram automatically gets uploaded to YouTube Shorts and/or the artist’s Discord server for easy fan-to-fan sharing.” He goes on to say, “Additionally, if desired, the audiogram can be redeemed, by the fan, as an official NFT digital collectible.”
This kind of direct engagement combined with the chance to create a digital collectible of the experience is a rare opportunity; an experience we imagine more artists and fans will want to share. Hopefully, by partnering with the platforms independent artists are using to distribute their music, there will be increasing opportunity for the Bonsai audiograms to integrate these experiences into more of the spaces fans are already listening and engaging.
Daniel Warren Hill is an American musician, writer, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the frontman for Washington DC area Alternative Rock band YellowTieGuy, as co-founder of Capitol Groove Collective, and increasing the exposure of artists on a global scale through his work with Alchemical Records.
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